Hawaii Accidentally Sends Emergency Alert About Ballistic Missile Threat

NO missile threat to Hawaii.

— Hawaii EMA (@Hawaii_EMA) January 13, 2018

Residents in Hawaii were startled by an emergency alert Saturday morning on their phones indicating that a ballistic missile was heading for the island that urged people to take shelter. The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency quickly followed up on the message tweeting that there was no missile threat to Hawaii. 

The alert on resident's phones told residents to take shelter and that the it  was "NOT A DRILL."

Tulsi Gabbard, a congressman from Hawaii said she confirmed that there was no missile inbound on the island with officials. 

It took 38 minutes after the false alarm for a correction message to be sent. "Human error" was blamed for the false alarm. Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz tweeted that there was nothing more important to the state than having a professional and fool-proof process for these alerts.

Hawaii's Senior Senator Mazie Hirono tweeted "At a time of heightened tensions, we need to make sure all information released to community is accurate. We need to get to the bottom of what happened and make sure it never happens again."

Today’s alert was a false alarm. At a time of heightened tensions, we need to make sure all information released to the community is accurate. We need to get to the bottom of what happened and make sure it never happens again.

— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) January 13, 2018

HAWAII - THIS IS A FALSE ALARM. THERE IS NO INCOMING MISSILE TO HAWAII. I HAVE CONFIRMED WITH OFFICIALS THERE IS NO INCOMING MISSILE. pic.twitter.com/DxfTXIDOQs

— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) January 13, 2018

AGAIN FALSE ALARM. What happened today is totally inexcusable. The whole state was terrified. There needs to be tough and quick accountability and a fixed process.

— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) January 13, 2018